Disclaimer: I don't Naruto or Fairy Tail. They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Hiro Mashima.

The newcomer then raised her eyes up and quickly noticed the large number of shinobis, who are watching her with calculating eyes. "Uh…hi…" She said in a loud voice. "I think I needed to introduce myself. I'm Irene Belserion and as you see, Erza here is my daughter."

Silence followed her reply before massive cries started erupting.

"WHAAT?!"

"Seriously! That hot chick is Erza-san's mother?!"

"So that means, she's Naruto-nii-chan's mother-in-law?!"

"I'm envying Naruto right now!"

Hearing the cries, Irene then returned her gaze to the blonde, who only stared back. "I see…" she calmly said. "Nice to meet you, my future son-in-law."

Naruto can only blink. Something with her raises red flags in his mind. "N-Nice to m-m-meet you too, mother-in-law…"

Irene smiled sweetly. Too sweetly, if one is to ask Uzumaki Naruto, who can't help but look back and forth between the woman wearing the witch clothes (as he puts it) and Erza, who didn't seem a bit happy to see her mother. They really look alike. He thought. And they smelled alike…uhmm…like strawberry… Okay, he didn't mean to be a pervert like his sensei, who can't help but keep looking at his possible mother-in-law with such perversion that everyone was disappointed at him, but still, their similarities are just too great.

"Erza…" Irene smiled sadly at her daughter, who just nodded in reply. "I know it will be hard for you to talk to me and I would have left you alone in peace but my former enemy just happened to have transported me here. Don't worry, we'll patch up things sooner or later."

Erza simply nodded, not even looking at her mother's eyes although Naruto can feel another set of emotion coming out of her.

Sighing, Irene then went further, passing by several shinobis who are busy whispering with one another and it wasn't long before she spotted a free seat beside Minato. "I take it that you're that young man's father? Your looks are identical with him, after all."

Minato smiled as he nodded, "I'm his father, Irene-san. I'm Namikaze Minato, the fourth leader of our hidden shinobi village."

"I see. Nice to meet you, Minato-san. And where is his mom?"

The blonde Namikaze just scratched his head, "I don't know if that Fairy will bring Kushina-chan here as well but I wish she would."

"She would…hopefully…" Irene said as she took her seat before she sent a glance towards Hashirama, who also looked back at her. "Hmmm…Senju Hashirama, was it? Even when I was still alive and my daughter wasn't born yet, I have heard of your name…and your clan…"

"Eh?" The elder Senju didn't expect to learn that fact from the newcomer.

"Care to elaborate on that one…" Tobirama couldn't believe it.

"Mah…it all came from grapevine but apparently, you're that shinobi who was strong enough to pin down supernatural creatures and apparently seal them on a living organism. Your clan name somewhat spread all throughout my old kingdom in Dragnof. Rung…" Irene spat that name, as if it was venom. "…once thought of launching an attack in the east in hopes of eliminating your clan but was dissuaded."

"We're THAT famous?" Even Tsunade didn't expect that.

"Apparently so. How are you all related to Senju Yuuma-sama?"

The three Senjus turned to the scarlet-haired woman in shock.

"Sensei, who's Yuuma-san?" Hiruzen himself doesn't know this.

"Saru, he's the grandfather of our father and one of the clan's best battojutsu practitioners," Tobirama explained. "He lived during the first stages of the Warring States Period."

"Yep. I have heard of it from father about Yuuma-ojii-san's style of fighting," Hashirama nodded. "But to clear up those rumors of me, I may be able to entrap the Nine Tails with my Mokuton but even I needed help in sealing them up. That's why we contacted the Uzumaki Clan, who are the best when it comes to sealing techniques and our distant cousins. I even married Mito-san, one of the finest kunoichis of our land, and the first jinchuuriki of the village."

"Jinchuuriki? As in a human sacrifice?"

"Yeah…" Minato sighed sadly. "In fact, my wife, who came from the same clan as Mito-sama, was the second jinchuuriki and when we both died…it had to be transferred to…"

"My future son-in-law…" Irene then sneakily glanced at Naruto, who was busy asking for some chips from Chouji while cursing at Neji, Shikamaru, and Sasuke, who teased him with the usual loser tag. "I—I see."

She then smiled off as she thought. This proved to be more interesting, Erza. It seemed that you have found a suitable partner for a husband.

When they were ready to listen to the next chapter, Ayame, the daughter of Teuchi the Ramen cook, decided to volunteer as she quickly got to the podium and grabbed the book.

Chapter 4: Cry When You Are Free

########Hunter########

It slithered across the floor of the working cave. Travel past the broken slabs of rock and gravel. And avoided the multiple bare feet of the slaves marching past it.

Jiraiya scowled at the snake. It reminded him too much of his old teammate, who just looked amused at the creature.

"Why are we suddenly following a snake's perspective?" Chouji asked but no one could answer him as they all shrugged.

"I hope it's not for long…" Naruto replied.

It lifted its head and looked about at those moving around it. The child it had come to know had disappeared from its sight as it was stalking around, hoping to find a rat or bug to eat. It shot out its slit tongue into the air to get a better positioning at where it was. After a few moments of recognizing its surroundings, the snake had gotten a general direction of where the boy was.

"I won't be surprised if it bites you, Naruto…" Erza thought out loud while the others were giggling at the statement of the redhead knight.

"I hope it's not me, Erza-chan…" Naruto groaned in annoyance but he got a feeling of foreboding.

"You just jinxed yourself by saying that…" The redhead deadpanned.

So blunt…just like me. Irene felt proud of her daughter as she smiled at Naruto, who was depressed again. I think you'll make a good husband, son-in-law.

But then, it tasted something different in the air from the rest of the slaves around the snake. Something similar to the boy that took care of it, yet different as well. It turned its body toward a slave boy throwing rocks. It slithered its way to the strange child, it scales picking up the dirt on its way. After a few seconds, it arrived at it target, lying next to his feet. It positioned itself up and hissed loud enough that it could be heard over the sound of rocks colliding.

"Seems like Erza-san was right," Shizune mused, sending her master's surrogate godson an amused look.

"At least, there is no snake here, Naruto…" Erza tried to placate the blonde.

"But there's a snake here, Erza. Just not the way you are familiar with…" Jiraiya grouched, sending Orochimaru a glare.

It saw the boy look up from his work and turn his head to see the area around him. After a few seconds, it appeared that the boy had shrugged off the sound as a figment of his imagination. Just as he was about to get back to work, the snake hissed louder, finally gaining the boy's attention. The boy looked by his feet to see a violet snake looking up at him.

After a few moments of exchanging looks the boy reacted how the snake had thought he would. "Ack, snake! Go away, go away." The boy had jumped back and shook his open hands to gesture the snake to leave him alone. The snake only tilted its head and continued to gaze at the boy. The boy tried several more methods like throwing pebble, poking it, and making loud noises but the snake did not retreat. The boy let out a deep and annoyed sigh, hesitantly got down on one knee and stretched out his hand. "Just don't bite me, okay?"

The snake slid its way onto the boy's palm and wrapped itself around his hand, feeling the rough scratches and callouses from years of work as it moved. The boy stood back up and brought his palm to his eye level to see the snake better. As he brought up his hand, the snake got a better look at him as well. He had rough, blonde hair that spiked in every direction. He had strong blue eyes that felt like it was looking into a deep lake. And on each of his cheeks were three whiskers, giving the appearance of scars.

"He looks older there," Tobirama commented, taking note of the fact that most of Naruto's baby fat is gone.

"Yeah, it seems that my son is growing up and so do my daughter-in-law…" Minato said, quickly earning a look from Irene. "What…"

"Nothing…Minato-san…"

The boy studied the snake intently for several moments. Looking at the reptilian from each angle his hand could make, the snake constantly looking at him as he did. He made some space between him and the snake in his hand and grinned. "Well aren't you pretty. It is kind of weird to see a snake here though, rare to see an animal in general. "He raised an eyebrow and gave a questioning look, "You aren't starved so you have been fed. Who has been feeding you little gu-" the boy was continuing his questioning of the silent animal until he was comically kicked in the face.

Almost everyone laughed at that scene while Naruto managed to control himself with the help of Erza, who soothed his hand.

"That's what you get for being too much of a goody-two shoes, Naruto," Kakashi teased his student, who can only glare back at him.

The snake was thrown in the air as the strange boy skidded on the floor, a bump on his head. The reptilian had no change in expression or movement as it flew up in the air, rotating around an axis. As it fell back to Earthland, it landed in another, more familiar pair of hands. It immediately got comfortable and started tightening itself safely around his hand. It was brought up to his face where it proceeded to nuzzle into his cheek. The boy nuzzled back content, until his eyes shot back up in anger.

"Orochimaru 2.0, very much," Jiraiya spat while Orochimaru just look amused at the scene.

"Hey, I don't want to see you touch her ever again, you hear me!" The maroon haired boy yelled with an accusing finger at the blonde kid he had just introduced to the concrete. Said kid lifted himself up and glared daggers at the slanted eyed child that had kicked him.

"Hey, why the hell did you kick me you asshole? If you wanted the snake then you can have it." He said with a huff before he dodged a rock aimed at his face. He balanced himself to see the snake boy with his hand outstretched after throwing the stone. "What the hell was that for?"

"Kami, he's an asshole," Naruto muttered to himself.

Konohamaru pointed at the screen, "Teach him a lesson, big boss!"

"It's just a book, Kono…" Asuma sweatdropped at his newphew's enthusiasm.

"Don't call her an 'it' you freak. Her name in Cuberos and she is my closest friend." He looked down at his hand to see the snake looking up at him with something akin to happiness. He smiled at the snake.

The blonde kid looked at the strange boy with a deadpan stare. "So your friend is a snake, well I hope you two are happy together." He said as he clapped his hands in mock support.

The slanted eyed kid pointed at the whiskered boy, "Hey we aren't like that you douche." He then turned his head and scratched the purple snake's underside, "Besides, if she was in your hands any longer she might catch a disease by a cat cosplayer." He said with a wry grin hidden by his position.

"Hey!" Naruto was furious at the cat cosplayer comment as a lot of people laughed at that while the others can only feel sorry for him.

Inside his belly, Kurama growled at being compared to a cat, "Naruto, your counterpart better do something about that brat."

Naruto sweatdropped at his partne's sudden appearance but quickly nodded.

The blonde boy grew furious and steamed rang from his ears. He marched toward the snake boy and pointed at him, "Hey! I am not a kitty cosplayer. Just because Milli-chan likes to call me Neko-Man sometimes doesn't mean anything. I just do that to cheer her up."

"Neko-man is just as bad, Naruto," Shikamaru shook his head at the apparent nickname.

"Pft…Neko-man…" Kiba snickered at the comment.

While Naruto nearly smack the lights out of his two friends, Erza can only smile fondly at the mentioning of her little sister in all but blood.

"With your fox whiskers, Milliana will stick to you as she loves cats so much," the redhead armored lady explained to the blonde.

The blonde boy grew furious and steamed rang from his ears. He marched toward the snake boy and pointed at him, "Hey! I am not a kitty cosplayer. Just because Milli-chan likes to call me Neko-Man sometimes doesn't mean anything. I just do that to cheer her up."

"Pfft, whatever Catman." He continued to pet the snake.

"And dammit my name is not Catman, it is Naruto Uzumaki. Alright!" He yelled as he jabbed his thumb at himself to emphasize his point. "We can't all be like you, Snake-boy ." He said as he let out a condescending chuckle. Getting the snake boy to stand up and smash his forehead with Naruto.

"It's not! My name is Erik!" He said as he tried to win in this game of push between him and the blonde boy; sparks flying between their eyes.

Sakura sighed at the scene as she said, "It reminds me of the time when Naruto and Sasuke used to fight when we were barely 13."

"That means we're getting older…and more mature…" Ino added to her best friend.

"I don't know about the mature part…" Sakura chuckled nervously as she takes a glance at her blonde teammate. "…But he does have his special woman to straighten him up and besides, Naruto won't be Naruto without his antics."

"You are just a snake man to me, little boy!" Naruto had momentarily forced Erik back, a smug smirk on his face as he was winning. Until Erik started pushing back, eyes furious.

"It's not little boy, baby bitch. I'm probably older than you punk."

"No way, I turned twelve a few weeks ago. I'm so older." He thought he had won until he saw Erik grow a bigger smirk.

"So it means they're in that place for six years," Tobirama frowned as he crosses his arms. "I wonder if this will drag for Kami knows when."

"I assure you Tobirama-san, they won't stay there for so long," Irene assured the younger of the Senju siblings with a small smile, learning from outside sources that her daughter joined Fairy Tail at approximately that age.

Despite her apprehension with her mother, Erza nodded her head in agreement with the Queen of Dragons as everyone in the room let out sighs of relief. The redhead knew that their escape was nearing and hoped that everyone survived and it didn't turn out like it did in her universe.

"Oh-ho, so I do win. I'm twelve and a half. So you must refer to me as Erik-sama-senpai." The boys continued their push until they both retracted. They both rubbed their red foreheads to ease the pain. After Naruto had cooled down his head he turned to the crimson haired boy.

"See, you must be younger, only little kids use the excuse of months to win an argument of age."

"Hey, just because you are a little kid, doesn't mean we all have shriveled sacks like you. So refer to me in respect brat!" Erik smirked at the boy that had insulted his snake friend by touching her.

"Sure. 'Respect'. So what should I call you?" He said with a sarcastic tone layered over his voice. "Snake-eyes? Slithers? Maybe I should just call you King Cobra!" He said as a tick mark grew on his head at the annoyance the slightly older boy was causing him.

Naruto just smacked his forehead at the nickname his alternate self gave to Erik.

"That's too cool, Naruto," Chouji told him. "You should have thought of an uglier nickname."

I'm starting to hate this chapter little by little. The jinchuuriki thought to himself in a depressed mood.

"That's right." Erik snapped his fingers and pointed a finger in a superior manner. "I'm the Cobra, bitch. The best and deadliest of snakes. So watch yourself or I'll poison you dead, punk" he growled as he raised his hands and separated his fingers to mock snake fangs.

"Would the poison even work against your fox spirit?" Erza questioned her seatmate.

"I'm not really sure but judging from past experiences, I think Kurama might be able to get rid of it…" he answered, making Erza smile in relief at hearing that.

"Try it and I'll pull your fangs out, asshole." Naruto lifted his middle finger and growled back. The boys continued this stare off until they heard the bell, both turned around and walked off. Naruto turned his head and addressed the new boy he met, "Watch yourself man. Don't think I'll lose to anyone like you, got it."

Erik smirked at the accusation of a challenge by the whiskered kid. "Please, if you touch Cuberos again, I'll kick your ass from half way around Earthland and back." Erik continued his march back to his cell where his groups of misfit friends were at. When he arrived, he saw the silent boy laying on the floor and the girl looking through the bars. At the corner, the long-nosed boy was kicking the dirt around. And finally, in the middle of the cell was the heavy-set boy throwing rocks around. As he sat in front of him the fat, orange haired boy acknowledged his arrival.

"More kids…" Hashirama was depressed at the scene. It somehow reminded him of their younger years when they were sent to the battlefields as early as seven years of age. I don't even know right now which one is worse…

"I haven't seen them when I was there…" Erza replied sadly to the First Hokage.

"Erik-San, you are back." The boy seemed honestly happy that he came back. He looked at him with expectance, "Any news?" He bounced in place.

The snake boy continued to look at the snake, "Sorry Richard. No dice." He looked back up at the large boy, seeing that the kid had grown a depressed visage. "I promise I'll tell you if I can find your brother Wally. But until then," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a fresh spud he stole from the kitchen and tossed it to the boy, "Enjoy."

Erza narrowed her eyes at the scene.

"What's wrong?"

The redhead looked at Naruto before she addressed him, "Wally was one of the kids in my cell and he had no idea that his brother was in the tower as well."

Most of the shinobis felt bad for Wally and Richard but they know they couldn't change the past.

Richard gained a happier expression after receiving the potato. Even if he couldn't find his brother, a potato always got him out of his funk. He peeled the starch and took a bite. He looked back up and saw that the reptilian lover had a thought in his head as he took care of the snake. "Is something wrong, Erik-San?" He asked the boy as he chewed on the raw food, some skin getting stuck in his teeth.

The slanted eyed boy was brought out of his funk from the sudden question. "Oh, I-it is nothing Richard." He looked back down and pet the snake as she nuzzled his palm. "I just met some really annoying asshole" he said with a smirk.

########Hunter########

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and yawned from fatigue. This was getting tiring, working like this every day. He had grown a lot stronger and bigger since he was a six-year-old all that time ago. Although from what Rob-jichan, he was still pretty short for someone his age. But he had to keep up his appearance around his friends as a strong kid.

Naruto twitched at that. He now enjoyed being almost as tall as Sasuke and he wouldn't want to be reminded of his younger height.

"Don't worry, Naruto. Our guild master can understand how you feel," Erza chuckled at him.

Speaking of which, he had just separated off from the large group of slaves walking back. He moved past the bars and saw all of his friends playing in the center, with Rob-jichan at the side watching them. Naruto grew a confident grin and strolled toward his friends. "Hey guys." He said with a wave if his hand.

All six of them raised their heads and looked to the new arrival. They saw it was him and smiled. The older members of the group waved to him as the little boy and girl ran up to him, the girl hugging his chest. "Ne, Na-chan, where were you? Er-chan and everyone were worried when you didn't make it back in time." The little girl with a kitten pout and brown hair looked up at the older boy.

"Aww…it's so cute!" Ino cooed once more towards the children and Naruto again, much to the blonde's embarrassment.

"Indeed. They look like a small family there…" Hiruzen commented while everyone smiled at the

He grew a cheeky grin and a throaty chuckle, "Ha ha, Milli-chan, why would you worry? I was just caught up by this big snake that wanted to stop and eat me." He looked back down to see the little boy and girl look at him in worry. "But I totally kicked its but and skinned it alive, because I will always be victorious." He said as he raised his fist in the air.

"You're really a bad liar, Naruto," Sasuke sweatdropped at the scene.

"Hey! I'm sure my younger self there just did it to calm them down!"

"Yeah!" The boy and girl cheered at their older brother figure's tale. The dark-skinned boy with brightly combed yellow hair looked up at Naruto. "Hey Nii-San, are you sure you are okay? That sounds really scary." The eight year old shook on his knees until Naruto rested his hand atop the boy's head.

"C'mon Shō, have a little faith in your older bro, kay." He said with a grin as the little boy wiped his tear and smiled up at the boy. He had to tell tall tales to calm down the little boy and girl when they were frantic. Naruto would get scared when he was approached by jailers and such, but he made a big façade in the eyes of the kids to raise their hopes. Anything he could do to make this hellish experience easier for them.

Naruto lead the two of them back to the group that was eyeing him with a questioning gaze. He smirked and shrugged his shoulders, not arguing that he may have been making an idiot of himself through this stories he told. They all chuckled and looked back at the center where they were writing something in the dirt. "What are you guys doing?"

Wally lifted his head full of black hair and chuckled, "We're playing Tic-Tac-Toe. Simon and I got our butts handed to us by these two here." He and the kid with a mop of black hair both mildly glared at the blue and red haired kids laughing to themselves. After the little fit they had, the two of them readjusted and went back to staring intently at the floor. Wally looked to Naruto as he sat beside him. "Who do you think will win this?"

Naruto shrugged and scratched his scalp and turned to Simon. "I have no idea. What about you Simon, any ideas?"

Simon looked between the two and then back at him. "Under usual circumstances I think Jellal would win, him having more experience in games like chess. But Erza has a blazing determination to win this little tournament and we know she doesn't give up." He made an inquiring look at Naruto who nodded sagely at the assumption. "Or you know, it could be that she picked the 'x's and they always win."

Jellal turned to the peanut gallery and yelled, "Alright, we get it. Shut up already I'm thinking." He looked back at the dirt and went over his options to win. He thought through each possible move and strategy he could make. Then it hit him that she boxed him in with 'x's while he was distracted by the idiots talking. His face blanked and he lowered his gaze in defeat as the slave girl made the last x and came out victorious.

"I Win." She yelled as she raised her hands in victory, jumping up and down in place. The others joined her in her celebration as Naruto kneeled down and patted Jellal's back.

"It's alright buddy, I lost to her so many times I can't even count anymore." He tried to cheer him up only leading to the blue boy to give him a long stare.

Naruto scowled at that. He already had an inkling on what the bastard will say.

"Duh Naruto. You lose to everyone when it comes to strategy games. You are the dumbest here." Naruto pouted at the accusation from his blue friend, even if it was true. He decided to leave the boy to mope in annual grief and walked next to his oldest friend.

"Don't worry Naruto. We all know that you are dumb," Kiba mocked his friend.

"Whatdya say, dog-breath?!"

"I said you're the dumbest here. Or are you also deaf?"

A fight would have almost ensued if it wasn't for Tsume hitting his son with a frying pan and Erza merely looking at Naruto with her patented glare, causing the blonde to shut up and behave.

"We have a winner. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, the undefeated champion, Erza Scarlet." He raised her hand and every one of their family in the cell clapped, even Jellal after abandoning his losing aura. She grew a big smile on her face and bowed.

"What do I get? What do I get?" Erza questioned the rest of the group in a cheerful voice. The group shrugged, not actually thinking of what the prize was for winning. Just as the girl's excitement was about to die down, Rob walked up and picked her up, earning a quick squeal.

Minato and Irene sent an amused look towards the redhead who ducked her head in embarrassment.

"How cute Erza…it's so bad that I didn't get to see it myself…" Irene smiled sadly at the squeal that the child Erza let out while the grown-up version frowned at her for that comment.

Did something happen between this two? The Senju siblings noticed the look Erza gave to her mother and wondered if there is more to the two scarlet beauties.

He placed her on his shoulders and began running around laughing. "The winner gets to fly in the air, congratulations." The rest of the group followed in a circle as the old man ran around, the little girl cheering in glee as her grandpa played with her.

Naruto followed behind, laughing at Erza's boundless happiness at the moment. Remembering the first time Rob had done that for the both of them. Despite being so old, the man was still strong and spry.

"As strong as the old man when he was still the hokage," Naruto sent Hiruzen a smile, which the old Sarutobi returned.

"Too bad I already died by the time you saved Konoha from the Chuunin Exams invasion…" Everyone became quiet at that as the perpetrator of the said event was also present and decided not to say anything.

After a few more minutes, Rob finally lowered the girl to the ground, where she decided to gather with her friends again. He watched from his corner as all of them started to talk about what had happened today. Jellal and Simon telling about the work they did. Shō talking about what he and 'Nee-San' had eaten today. And finally, Naruto exaggerating his story of how he interacted with Erik aka 'The Snake King'.

Rob couldn't help but chuckle from his spot as the others laughed and gasped as Naruto faked the idea of being eaten by a giant snake and blowing it up from the inside. He had noticed that these kids had done their best to make a bad situation good. Playing games and talking with each other. Listening to some of Rob's old tales about Fairy Tail. Rob grew a nostalgic look at seeing how much that awkward little boy had grown over the last 6 years.

"He was basically what Saru was to the real Naruto with us," Tobirama commented, proud of his successor.

He played with Erza and Jellal a lot when they were together as kids. Having little rivalries with them to see who was the best. He sometimes won when it came to strength games and outdoing each other. But he sucked on a whole different level when it came to strategy and thinking games. That was probably the result of not having a very thorough education growing up. Even his make-shift lessons in the cell could only do so much.

All the Konoha 12 can frown at that.

But that never stopped the boy from doing what he wanted. Whatever he couldn't do correctly, he did in his own way. It was actually very commendable for someone his age to fight through any problems he found.

Well except for his writing ability, that still sucked even now.

"Can this book just stop rubbing it in my face?!" Naruto was at the edge as he nearly wanted to rip the book by himself.

"This is why fuinjutsu is helpful, gaki, because it perfects your writing ability…" Jiraiya informed his student who was grumpy.

"Oh…so you're my future son-in-law's teacher?" Irene asked curiously.

Jiraiya smiled rather too perversely at that and was about to do his usual kabuki introduction when Tsunade knocked him down quickly and answered for the toad sage, "Yes, that man was Naruto's sensei but be careful around him. He's an enemy of all women."

Tsunade won't allow their reputation to get soiled in front of a very important person like Irene Belserion.

Rob was brought out of his musings when he saw the whole group cheer as Naruto and Simon laid on their bellies and brought their hands up from their elbows. They interlocked and stared at each other intensively until Milliana let go of their hands and they started arm wrestling. A few cheers and whoops were heard from the group as the two continued their mock battle.

As it appeared that Simon was gaining the advantage, Naruto was struggling to hold it up. Even though Naruto was older by a few months, Simon had a larger frame then him and could lift the heavier rocks others couldn't. It was amazing how people as young as these kids were so strong. Naruto was holding up his hand only a few degrees away from where they started and smirked.

"Come on, boss! Kick his butt!" Konohamaru cheered.

Naruto calmed his mind and controlled his breathing. He felt his power travel through his body and into his hands. He smirked as he eyed Simon, who immediately knew what that evil grin meant. Naruto started to grunt as he overtook Simon in strength. After several moments of futile effort, Naruto smacked Simon's hand into the dirt and stood cheering.

Naruto was giddy about that scene. "Finally, something good about this scene!"

Rob chuckled as he saw Naruto use his Chakra to win the game. He remembered several years ago that Naruto was trying to utilize the power that his demon friend was teaching him in his cell. After many weeks of trying to bring up the dormant power, Naruto was finally able to call on some of his own strength.

"About time, Naruto…" Minato smiled at his son's accomplishment.

"Although realistically, he won't be able to use any jutsu unless he possibly meets older brother—and that's IF he's still alive there…"

Naruto deflated at Tobirama's comment, wondering how his counterpart will fight without any jutsu in hand.

Rob supervised Naruto when he tried to do this. To see if he could find any change in Naruto's presence when he did. Rob had concluded that Naruto's power-up was there, but was extremely rough. That with the training and control he has, at most, he could enhance his power by a small factor. When Naruto tested this theory, he nearly broke his hand on the wall, saying he wanted to see if he could destroy it.

Rob had let out a very deep sigh at remembering his effort to explain the slight enhancement to the seven year old at that time. And what he should use that power for.

#########Hunter########

"Ow, ow, ow, ow." Naruto held onto his right hand that had comically swelled and turned deep red from the pain of hitting the wall. Rob was cooling the hand down by taking some of his rationed water and pouring it onto another bandage he made from his shirt. Erza and Jellal were sitting next to Naruto as he was treated by his parental figure. "I really thought that would work." He said, trying to sound confident like he didn't just make himself look stupid in front of everyone.

"Typical Naruto…" Kakashi eyesmiled while Sasuke and Sakura were shaking their heads at what alternate Naruto just did.

"Like Natsu…" Erza whispered to herself but at the same time, something about what the blonde did made her heart go a bit baka mode and fuzzy and wondered how he was able to conjure such emotions and feeling from her. I'm thinking this too much…and I don't know how Jellal will react when he possibly meets Naruto later on…

"Yes, well" Rob said as he put his attention to wrapping the boy's hand, "don't do it again okay. You're not strong enough yet." He finished the wrapping and let the boy's hand go. Phew, it was hard to try being medical when you couldn't use your magic to heal the biggest problem child.

Jellal looked at the hand of the former Jinchūriki. Then from the hand, he looked up at the wall he hit and thought for a minute. "Maybe I should try? I bet I'll break the wall on my first hit." He said excitingly as Naruto stood back up behind him.

"Oh yeah, well that was a practice punch. I'll break it down the next time I try." He said as he got his fist back like he was going to punch again.

"Your hand just got bandaged and you go stiil wanted to punch the wall…" Minato deadpanned at Naruto, who had just smiled as he scratched the back of his head.

"No, I'll break the wall." Jellal said as Erza then jumped up and stood beside them.

"Me too. Me too. I'm gonna try." All three of them reeled their fists back.

"Your stupidity is as contagious as Gai-sensei's youthfulness," Neji commented as a part of him fears if it might contaminate him as well.

Naruto decided to ignore the comment.

"BAKAS!" Rob karate chopped all three of their heads in an instant. All three of them crouched down, holding their respective thumping bumps on their heads. "Don't even try that!"

"Ow, why not Rob-jisan?" Jellal asked with a painful tear in his eye, Erza whimpering and Naruto clutching both his head and the throbbing hand that just punched the wall. "If we could break the wall, we could run out."

"It's good to see kids just being kids for once…" Hashirama smiled at the scene.

"Well first off, no one breaks a wall with just a punch." Rob said with a matter of fact tone that got all three children to gain big surprised eyes. "And second, you all are not strong enough to do anything like that yet."

All three of them looked between each other. Erza looked up at the former Fairy Mage, "Well, how do we get strong Jii-San?"

Rob looked at the children, them leaned back and rubbed his chin in thought. He looked back at them, thinking he had just come up with the best solution to the question. "When I was in Fairy Tail, I had many friends that I spent time with almost every day. We joked, had fun, and played around. I would get kicked in the face and then I would bust a bottle over Makky's short head. Oh my god that was fun." Rob said as he laughed at the memory of the midget using Titan after that and destroyed the guild hall.

The three little stooges listened to his story, also sweat dropping at the fact that the elder had broken a bottle over his friend's head.

"I thought that those days of fooling around would last forever. But after sometime I found that there are people out there who are stronger then you are. And when you aren't strong enough to save your friends, you can't help but regret what could have happened." He remembered how Makarov and the group had felt when they heard of the Tonewa incident. How they were devastated that they couldn't help their ninja friends from getting hurt.

Rob looked into the eyes of the children and gave a firm determination. "You have to become strong so you can keep the people you love safe. And so you can stop anyone who wants to hurt them, even if they are stronger." He smiled at the three children. "That is how we can be strong."

"Such yoouttthfuuuul!" Gai and Lee shouted at the top of their lungs as nearly everyone covered their ears at their sudden.

Is this what my grandchildren will have to see when they become a shinobi like their father? Irene thought in horror as their green spandex was too much to endure seeing it. I'm sorry Minato-san and Kushina-san wherever you are but I'm officially NOT allowing my grandbabies to become ninjas!

"So loud but I like Rob-san's spirit," Hashirama promised himself he would treat the old man with sake and a spar if ever he does meet him. "He had the Will of Fire in him."

The slave kids were enlightened by his words and looked between the three of them with grins.

Erza stood up, "I'll become strong and make sure the two of you are safe."

Jellal stood up, "No way. I'll become the strongest out of all of us. Just you watch."

Naruto stood up with a cheeky grin, "Oh really. Well I'm sorry but I'll be the best. The strongest, fastest, best Mage that anyone had ever seen. I'll show the both of you that no matter what comes at me, I'll never get hurt." He said as he put his hands on his sides and let out a long, throaty laugh.

Jellal smacked Naruto's bandaged hand that caused him to fall to his knees cradling it, throwing out swears in every direction.

Rob sweat dropped at their antics. They had a long way to go.

"We're so cute their as kids," Naruto smiled.

Erza nodded in agreement.

########Hunter########

And although Naruto was not a juggernaut with that power, it did help in his work by helping him stay strong. He helped the other kids a lot by working with them in their fields as well. It helped the others a lot when they saw him stand back up after working so hard, giving them the hope that they could make it through this.

He then reminisced on all the moments when the other kids arrived in their cell as well.

How Wally had been yelling about how he wanted to see his brother again. And when he cried that whole first night Naruto, Jellal and Erza tried to cheer him up any way they could. They still to this day tried to help him find his brother when they could.

And how Simon jumped right back up after being thrown in and attacked the jailer. They didn't respond to kindly to that and had shocked him until he started to yell. Surprisingly, Erza was the one who jumped into the attack's path and took the last of it. After the bastards had left, Jellal, Wally, and Naruto checked on them while Rob tried to heal them the best he could. Afterwards Erza walked up to Simon and cheered him up, causing the boy to blush a brilliant red.

Rob would never say, but he had spotted Naruto give a jealous pout at the attention Simon was getting.

Every Konoha shinobi gave Naruto amused looks and the blonde looked away while gushing.

"You looked like you would kill that Simon person sooner or later," Sasuke said.

"Of course, he is jealous," Shikamaru replied.

"Someone doesn't like sharing…" Ino and Konohamaru said in a sing song voice towards the blonde who can only stare at them angrily at the teasing.

"The kid seemed to want the redhead for himself," Jiraiya whistled.

You seemed too possessive of Erza-san, Naruto. Minato chuckled mentally.

Oh, he laughed so hard that day.

Finally, only about a year ago, Milliana and Shō were brought into the Tower. Immediately the two of them had balled their eyes out at the situation. After a while, they all tried to cheer them up, but nothing was working. Until Erza had hugged Shō and told him that she would protect him. Shō had cried into her little chest for the rest of night.

But Milliana was not as well convinced. At least at first...

########Hunter########

It was growing into night in the tower. Most of the slaves had been in their cells while some were to do extra work. In one cell, a little girl's sniffling and sobbing could still be heard.

Milliana had sat away from the rest of the kid's, rubbing her swollen red eyes away from any tears.

Iruka frowned at the scene. It reminded him too much of Naruto's early days in the Academy.

The rest of the kids and Rob could only look on in sadness. They all gave looks at each other at what they could do to cheer her up. They had tried everything they could, but no result had been shown from their work. Finally, Naruto stood up and marched up in front of the girl. She looked up at the eleven-year-old who immediately brought her into a tight hug.

"Good job Naruto," Sakura said with a proud tone seeing their teammate now making another happy world for another person.

"It will be alright, I promise." He said as he brought his face away to look directly into her eyes, that were staring right at him. "You won't be hurt by anyone here. We will protect you, because we are all we have of each other. Okay?" He tried to explain to the little seven-year-old who only stared at him with big, mesmerized eyes. Naruto moved his head side to side, the girl following along with his movements. She reached up and patted his cheek, earning a confused look from everyone watching her.

"Oh my…"

"This will be amusing…" Shikamaru shot a smirk at Naruto. Even if it's troublesome, he was enjoying the look in the blonde's face too much.

Hinata also giggled at the scene as it was too cute for her.

The little girl gave a large, warm smile and laughed. "Kitty. You're a Kitty." Naruto looked at the girl with a surprised look on his face. The others were holding back a slight giggle.

"W-what? I'm not a kitty." The boy stated with a strong determination.

"I'm not a kitty!" Naruto was exasperated.

"Yes you are." She said with no change in her happy expression. "You have whiskers so you are a kitty."

"W-what." He looked to his side to see everyone he knew stifling a laugh with their hands to their mouths. He looked back and was going to argue with the little girl, only to go silent when he saw her huge eyes look up at him. Naruto let out a long sigh and grabbed the bridged of his nose.

"I. Am. Not. A. Kitty!" He said sternly, getting the attention of all those present as he stood up proudly with his hands up victoriously. "I Am Neko-Man. Nyan!" He said, his chest puffed out in pride. His friends looked at him with dropped jaws, not believing what they had just seen. Milliana had started clapping and cheering, causing Naruto to continue his foolish antics to get the girl to laugh.

Soon afterwards, the rest of their group had started laughing as well. Jellal and Simon posed as villains for Neko-Man to defeat in his little act. They had played that game the whole night, to cheer up the two new additions to their group.

The scene somewhat brightened the mood for all the shinobis (plus the two magic users) present.

########Hunter########

Rob had been so preoccupied with his memories that he didn't see that it was already night time. He looked around and saw that the youngest members had already fallen asleep. The older kids had stayed up to talk some more. About their dreams and possibilities when they were finally free.

Wally had wanted to find his older brother again. When he did, they would probably open a farm and find families together. It was a simple but good dream to go by.

Erza smiled at that. Someday…

Simon had decided that he wanted to join the Rune Knights. He wanted to use his latent magic power to help the world in any way he could. And he just wanted to help as many people as possible.

Jellal was dreaming big. He wanted to travel the whole of Earthland. He wanted to see the mountainous ranges of Bosco and Seven. And travel the icy terrain of Iceberg. And then move around the massive country in the Pergrande Kingdom and come back. Maybe even past that land and see everything he could. He never wanted to be bound by anything.

And they all knew what Erza and Naruto's dream was. They were going to join the infamous Fairy Tail Guild. Travel around the country and become famous and strong. And between the two of them, try to find Erza's parents in that big world out there.

"Between the two of them?" Irene teased her daughter, who outright ignored her comment.

Well, Kushina, you can now rest in peace in the afterlife if you won't come here. Minato thought. Your son had officially followed your advice.

As they all yawned and prepared for bed, they got into their special places on the floor. Simon curled up near the soft ground by a rock. Wally sprawled out of the floor by the wall. Jellal propped his back onto the wall and dozed off. Naruto and Erza lay next to each other in opposite directions. Rob found it cute that after so long those two had become such good friends that they trusted each other to be by their side at all times.

"Awww…" All the kunoichis found it very cute. Both Naruto and Erza smiled at each other.

"Geeheehee," Tsunade frowned upon hearing Jiraiya's perverted laugh. "I guess this needs an upgrade when they are now both at the proper age."

"Everyone…" The blonde Senju was keeping herself from quickly punching the toad sage. "Ignore his perverted comment…"

He remembered all the arguments and playful yelling between the two of them. How Naruto hugged and comforted Erza if she was ever hurt. And how Erza helped Naruto if he ever worked himself ragged. But the closest moment between the two of them was a moment Rob would never forget in the rest of his life.

The day Erza got her last name.

This got Erza leaning at the screen as she remembered how Jellal gave her last name. She wondered if it would be different this time.

"I know this sounds stupid but how come she didn't get your surname?" Hashirama whispered to Irene, who just sadly sighed and replied, "It's…complicated, Hashirama-san."

########Hunter########

Rob arrived back at the cell after a long slave day. He could feel his arms and back ache as he stretched out. He walked past the open bars to a fairly peculiar sight. Naruto, Jellal, Erza and Wally were all sitting around in a rough circle. Naruto was in deep thought; Jellal and Wally were watching him with a judging eye while Erza was fidgeting in place. Rob was thinking of asking them what they were doing but he had never seen Naruto put so much thought into a subject before.

Naruto raised his head and said with a grin "I know, we'll call her Ramuphusomas. That is a cool name." As Naruto looked to his friends for confirmation, he was shot down as Jellal and Wally slapped the idea away with a shake of their heads. "What? It sounds cool."

Everyone look incredulously at Naruto, who was exasperated at his counterpart.

"What does that even mean?" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't even think that's a word…" Sasuke added.

"Was it food?" Chouji chimed in.

Jellal shook his head, "No it doesn't. It sounds like gibberish. It has to be something real."

Naruto grew red in anger, "Well we have nothing after an hour, so if there are any good ideas, go ahead." Naruto tried his best to calm himself down. But it is hard for a nine-year old to take so much rejection and keep face.

"Um, what are you doing?" Rob made himself known to the little group of growing kids. They all looked up at him, the boys were angry and Erza was red with embarrassment.

"Rob-ojisan, we have a problem that we just can't solve." Jellal said as the talk man for the group. "We have just found a horrible problem that we can't let rest any longer."

"What?"

"I-it's nothing Jii-San" Erza said as she tried to change the topic and switch the attention away from her. The little eight-year old red head still had a problem when everyone put their attention on her.

"It turns out Erza here" Naruto said as he started to build up the tension, "doesn't have a last name." He pointed at the girl in question, who had a blush on her face similar to her hair as she tried to pound her fists into her blonde friends face. "I always thought that she never said her last name because she was embarrassed, but she doesn't have one."

"Naruto…please be more attentive to the atmosphere next time…" Sakura reminded her teammate.

"I-it's not like it matters." Erza said as she tried to avoid eye contact with her friends out of embarrassment and shame. "I'm just Erza anyway."

"No. No you are not just Erza." Naruto said almost furiously. "You are so cool and nice, so it is just mean that you can't have a last name like the rest of us." Naruto said as he stood up to emphasize his point and leave no room for argument. "Which is why I say we should call her Amietoca. It sounds like it works well with Erza." He said hoping to get the approval of the rest of the team.

Erza blushed at the compliments alternate Naruto gave to her but that changed to a scowl when she heard the surname part.

"Naruto we are not calling her Erza Amietoca. Like we are making fun of her." Wally pitched in from beside Jellal who was nodding his head in agreement. "You just want to call her that because you have a horrible naming sense."

Minato agreed with the statement. As much as he loved his son, he wouldn't deny that his naming sense was horrible.

"What? I don't suck with names."

"Your name is Naruto. How can you be taken seriously when you are named after a fish cake?"

"It means maelstrom…" Naruto grumbled with a pout.

"It's alright Naruto," Minato said, quickly comforting his son.

"For the last damn time, what the hell is a fish cake?" Naruto said as he grew peeved at their continued joking of whatever cake thing this was.

"It is what you are. Stupid." Jellal said as he and Naruto started butting heads. They stayed like that until they separated and sat down, a dark cloud coming over the boys at their failure to help their friend. "We can't think of anything. It's useless."

Rob looked on at the boys in slight worry and understanding. From his experience with Makarov and Porlyusica, giving girls an appropriate name was hard. Either you couldn't quite find the right word for them, or every idea you had was just not worth it. He looked down at Erza, who even though she was protesting, had quickly gained a saddened look only to abandon it almost instantly.

Naruto was slowly nodding his head at what his friend/brother/rival had said. He looked back up to see that Erza was slowly breathing out, the embarrassing tension fading as they stopped arguing about her. He stared at her for a few more seconds until he stood up and started walking. Everyone was watching him as he walked behind Erza and put his hands in her hair, earning a slight squeak of surprise from the girl. He looked like he was studying her head; ignoring the request of the girl to stop until a few moments he looked up from her scalp.

"Ah yes. It seems like it's going be her beautiful hair that gives my next reincarnation the inspiration…" Hashirama said, nodding his approval of what Naruto was going to do.

"Like father, like son," Minato was amused.

"Naruto's mother has red hair like us?" Irene was a bit interested in this small detail.

"It's a dominant trait in the Uzumaki Clan," Hiruzen replied. "And they're also carefree and boisterous…and a bit of a prankster in terms of other traits."

"What about her hair?" He earned a confused look from everyone present, even the girl who couldn't look directly behind her due to her friend's position. "She has really nice hair, so maybe we should name her after it."

Naruto nodded his head, "Yes, her hair is very beautiful, just like mom's," he commented, getting the re-equip user to flush.

Irene grinned, seeing the reaction of her daughter. She realized it would make her daughter feel erotic if Naruto complimented her hair.

"Hey yeah!" Jellal sold up at the surprisingly smart idea from his fellow slave. "That's a great idea."

"Okay," Naruto grinned with closed eyes from behind Erza "we will call her Erza Red from now on." He reopened his eyes to see everybody giving him a blank, emotionless stare. Like he had just gone up in front of an entire town and proclaimed he was an idiot. "What?"

Even Naruto facepalmed there when he heard that name.

"Yeah, alternate Naruto really should let the others decide," Shikamaru drawled out, getting Naruto to be comically depressed.

Wally kept his blank stare, "We are not calling her that."

"Why not?"

Jellal joined the explanation. "Because it sounds stupid. Besides her hair isn't just red, it is a different shade of normal red."

Naruto looked at the two of them a nursed a tick mark growing at the back of his head from their nit-picking. "Isn't red just red?"

"No, her hair is more maroon or crimson then just red." Wally said to the former blond weapon trying to explain their view.

Jellal grabbed his chin in thought and made humming noises. "I think her hair is something different from crimson. Maybe vermillion or..or scarlet maybe."

"There it is…" Tobirama said.

"Took a lot of bad names to finally get there…" Tenten commented, giving a pointed look towards Naruto who didn't mind her at all.

Naruto widened his eyes in realization at what the tattooed boy had just said in his musings. "Wa-wait, what was that? That sounded good. Scarlet? Scarlet! Yeah, that's it!" The others looked up at him in shock as he put his hands on her shoulders and gained a massive grin."Erza Scarlet! That sounds awesome!"

Jellal listened to his friend's idea from his suggestion and made a face of realization. "Yeah, Scarlet works for her. It's the color of her hair, so we'll never forget." He stood up and raised his arms cheering, "Meet Erza Scarlet! Future Mage of Fairy Tail!"

"Finally!" the whole Konoha village cheered hearing that, getting a smile from Erza.

"It's a good name," Teuchi said cheering along with the others.

Maito Gai nodded his head and posing while stating very seriously "It's a youthful name" that comment got some to sigh while others looked at him like he was an idiot and the rest thought it isn't the right moment to be a proud Konoha shinobi.

"YEAH!" Wally and Naruto jumped in the air in excitement. Naruto turned back to Erza and looked her in the eyes. "Is that alright Erza? Do you like that name?" He made his point by making pleading eyes, not wanting to go back and think of more names.

Erza was still shell shocked by the sudden excitement that she barely realized Naruto was talking to her. She lifted her hands and ran her fingers softly in her hair. She softened her eyes and said faintly. "Erza Scarlet..." She looked back up at the big eyes of her friends, waiting for her opinion on the new name. She smiled and nodded her head with a faint blush and small tears in her eyes.

"You really look like a Scarlet Angel that came from above, dattebayo," Naruto commented, causing everyone to gasp at how Naruto had sweet-talked the redhead while Irene was slightly jealous of her daughter for she never got that kind of compliment from her former husband.

Shit, that's a good line, Naruto! Jiraiya was crying deep inside. If only I can continue writing Icha Icha…

"Sensei…don't you think Naruto's adoring her too much…" Sakura whispered to Kakashi and Sasuke, who just snorted.

"And who are you to even tell him that? He's mother?" Sasuke rhetorically asked.

"Well, of course no, Sasuke-kun! It's just that…"

"Just drop it Sakura," Kakashi sighed. "Besides, he would be fine with her around."

Hinata can't help but feel a bit envious of Erza even if she was already in the stage of acceptance at this moment.

"Did Naruto compliment Sakura that way before?" Kiba asked his friend and teammate.

"As far as I can remember, no," Shino shook his head.

The boys cheered and ran around in celebration. Jellal and Naruto had a small argument of who actually named her. But that was quickly abandoned as they decided to start saying her new, full name in rapid succession. Erza ignored the boys who were on cloud nine and walked up to her grandfather who was still surprised of the actions that had just occurred. "Hey, ojisan, what do you think of my new name?" She said with hope obvious in her voice.

Rob had closed his eyes but that was only to hold back the possibility of tears coming out if his eyes. This was the first time in many years that he had seen the girl with so much joy and life in her eyes. He wiped his arm over his face and bent down, ruffling her hair in the process. "I think it is beautiful, Erza-chan." The girl beamed a bright smile at her grandfather.

Erza suddenly faced Naruto and said, "I know that it wasn't you who gave me that name in this world but still, I want to thank you for giving my alternate self that name."

"No prob!" Naruto flashed his foxy grin, which made Erza nearly had a heart attack.

########Hunter########

Rob laughed lightly and settled into the rock wall besides Jellal. He looked around at the kids he had seen grow up so much over the last few years. Some he only knew for a few years. Some he had seen change for over a decade.

Rob closed his eyes and drifted off. He knew that these kids could take good care of themselves.

########Hunter########

Visions of bodies piled up in front of his eyes once again. His hands drenched in the foreign blood of the ninja around him. His injuries burning away and fading like they always did.

"What the…why do we have to see this again?" Jiraiya grumbled, not liking the scene as an image of a Iwa hitai-ate appeared.

Danzō calling from atop the cliff the formation the ninja should take. The bull and cat plowing through the futile attacks of their enemies. Immensely powerful attacks getting thrown out in every direction.

"Ah…" Tobirama shook his head in dismay. "It looks like it's a dream of Naruto and it's certainly not a good one."

"A dream? More like a nightmare," Hashirama snorted as everyone frowned in worry for the kid.

"Who is this Danzo? Some kind of a beaureucrat in your shinobi ranks?" Irene asked.

"Somewhat. He's a big mistake of mine," Tobirama replied.

"A psychopath," Tsunade replied.

Naruto once again dreamt of the fights and battles that took place in his subconsciousness. Over the last six years, every few nights the war would play over in his dreams. Not constantly, or even the whole war each time. But enough of the battle that he could remember each moment to a fine point. But no matter what part played in his head, it always needed the same.

With the form of the familiar fox towering over him fading away. He could see that Kurama had noticed his presence and acknowledged that he was there. The demon would slightly turn and say the same thing every time.

"It was my last moments with Kurama," Naruto noted sadly.

"His fox spirit has a name?" Irene asked Minato, to which the Namikaze nodded.

"He had the strongest tailed beast sealed inside him," Hiruzen supplemented for the Queen of Dragons. "Him and Killer Bee of Kumogakure are the two remaining jinchuuriki of the Elemental Continents."

"I kind of understand how he feels, then, since I was cursed by a similar kind of magic," Irene sagely said. "Not that I am boasting it or anything but I was called the Queen of Dragons for a reason."

"Dragons? They exist in your lands?" Hashirama didn't want to believe it. He only heard it as some sort of a group of mythical creatures from his ancestor's stories.

"I don't know if they are present in the east but they're still abundant in the West. In my old kingdom, Belserion was my ally," Irene explained for those who are interested and true enough, the first three Hokages were amazed to hear that dragons actually exist.

"Probably, the closest thing we have as allies are those toads of that pervert there," Tsunade said.

"Hey, my toad summons aren't that bad, Tsunade-hime!" Jiraiya complained.

"Heh, didn't want you to see me like this kid. Thought you would sleep through this and just wake up happy. But we're never this lucky, huh. I guess you probably won't hear everything I say. Listen close kid."

Kurama would turn down and address him as he knew that his consciousness was fading at that moment.

"The day will come that you be set free. You will probably go through a lot of trials, and pain. But hey, that is just the way things go." His body was fading, leaving only his upper body. "You will probably want to cry sometimes, but don't. That will show that you can't take it. Take the pain, carry it, and find what you can protect. And then..."

Nothing. He couldn't hear what he was saying as his body faded. Naruto tried the best he could to listen to what Kurama said as he faded away, but he just couldn't listen to his final words. And that felt worse than anything else Naruto had ever done.

He knew that those last words were important. That they carried with them a message that affected Naruto even though he couldn't hear it.

And you have someone to protect now, Naruto. Kakashi eyesmiled at Erza, who was leaning too close to Naruto.

And so Naruto was forced to lay there, in his dream, unable to do anything to affect what played out. Once again listening to the last words of his friend that just fell on deaf ears.

########Hunter########

Erza woke up to the sound of the cult members forcing the slaves back to work. She looked around to see the others slaves rustling awake just like her. They were moving out to the daily grind before being forced out by the pain of torture. Erza looked down and saw that Naruto was still rustling, having another nightmare like he had for several years.

Hiruzen frowned at the sight of his surrogate grandson. He wanted nothing more than to just up and go tell Naruto that everything will be fine.

Erza nudged him awake, Naruto jerking awake with a cold sweat. She softened her gaze, knowing that Naruto was in great pain trying to be a leader. He looked up at her to see that she was there, ready to help him if it became too much.

Erza's frown turned into a pride smile for her other. She was glad that she could help him in his struggles.

Naruto's father and guardians both beamed at the girl, both giving her huge smiles of gratitude.

"It's alright." She said with a small, soft smile.

He calmed down and settled back down before he started standing up. "I know." He said without looking at her. She would be offended by anyone else, but she knew that even those little thanks were heartfelt.

He breathed out and turned to her, his hand out and a smile on his face. "C'mon."

Erza nodded and took his hand to stand up.

"They complement each other, do they?" Irene asked rhetorically. Minato agreed with her statement.

########Hunter########

Shō grabbed another boulder and put it inside the wheel cart, carried off by a middle-aged man. He slowly breathed out and turned around, trying to pick up another heavy rock. He tried but his arms wobbled from the weight. His knees buckled and dropped the boulder back into the pile.

He set himself back up to pick up the rock. He wasn't going to fail; he was going to be strong. His thoughts traveled to the older kids in his group.

Milliana had made their experience here less horrible by brightening the mood. Getting the rest of their friends to laugh and listen to them.

Simon could easily lift several of these rocks without becoming strained. And he could do this work for a good hour.

"So young and yet, he had to do this kind of labor," Hashirama shook his head in disapproval. "He was forced to mature prematurely."

Wally always had kid around, helping Shō when he needed it. It helped him out of the view if the jailers and stopped them from questioning him on his work.

Jellal was possibly the smartest person he had ever met. Thinking of ways to play the games and do the work as best possible. He also thought of escape plans with Naruto a lot until the example last year.

Naruto and Erza were what he wished to be like. Erza was the kind Nee-San that watched over him. She helped him through all the pain and worry when he first came. And Naruto always treated him with admiration and respect. He kept telling him that he was going to be very strong one day.

"I feel you, Shō!" Konohamaru puffed his chest. "We both admired big boss!"

Shō continued working and thought of what he could do. He wasn't very strong, smart, or cherry like the rest of them. He couldn't lead and think through plans like they could. He couldn't be like any if them. He would be stuck in this hell forever.

Inoichi frowned at that, "It's not good to think like that but I can't blame him at the same time. It's pretty hard to stay positive in an environment like that."

Sho lifted another rock and saw that water was falling on them. He noticed that he was crying again after all this thinking. Even if they played and joked, they were still stuck here. Even when they tried to make things easier, they were still doing slave work.

Shō held back his tears. He sniffed hard to hold back the runny nose accompanying those tears. He lifted another rock and saw a small covered vent. Shō wiped his eyes and looked around him, noticing that most of the slaves were working around the corner.

Shō walked over to the vent and lifted the barricade, revealing a deep tunnel that went on farther then he could see. Shō picked up a small pebble and through it inside the hole, hearing the echo as the pebble skipped on the rock.

Shō slowly grew a big smile and then hid it, turning around to make sure no one was watching. He lifted the barricade up again and covered the hole. He continued his work for the rest of the time as he kept a small smile hidden on his face.

He had found a way to help everyone.

He had found a way out of the Tower of Heaven.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto cheered as almost everyone from Konoha was happy that they have finally found a way to escape.

Erza, though, didn't share her seatmate's enthusiasm as something about the scene was bothering here, "I can't tell that it would work and we didn't do it that way."

Shikamaru decided to chime in, "The tunnel is too small, even for someone of their ages. Besides, that's far too easy."

The momentary happy mood was gone the moment the Nara shared his view on it but they didn't refute his words.

########Hunter########

"You found what?" Erza whispered to the little brown skinned boy that had come to her during their shared work at the big cave. It was close to the time where the slaves were sent back to their cells. Shō had been hiding this secret in all day and could not hold it back anymore. So he told the person he was closest to, his Nee-San.

"I told you, I found a way out of the Tower." He whispered back with a big smile while Erza tried her best to keep the boy silent. "It's a little tunnel at the end of the work way that goes into the vents."

"Don't talk about this to the others until we come back alright." She said as Shō nodded his head. "This is a secret alright."

"What's the secret?" Erza blanked as the other kids had appeared almost out of the air behind her. She grumbled about the lack of privacy in the place and brought them closer. She started to explain the information that Shō had found. The others had all gasped at the mention of the tunnel.

"We could escape? Really?" Milliana said as she tried her best not to jump up and down. She looked around at the others, who all had looks of dread on their faces. "What's wrong?"

"Milli, it's not best that we talk about this. It could end badly." Wally said to the little girl while she looked like she was about to argue when Jellal interrupted.

"Milliana, do you remember what happened last year?" Milliana and Shō both cringed at the mention of that horrible act the jailers did last year.

"Another bad memory…" Asuma groaned as he smokes a transparent cigarette.

########Hunter########

The kids looked on as Rob argued with Naruto and Jellal while quietly yelling. They both argued that they should be working on ideas to escape this hell hole while they still could. They should be working to help the two kids that had just joined their group only several days ago.

The kids had worried about why their grandfather had always told them that it was a bad idea to escape. How this pain and torture they went through every day was better than the alternative. And when Naruto and Jellal had decided to ask why this was, they were interrupted. By a loud command sent over the speaker lacrima.

"Attention all workers, please refer to the center cave. Attention all workers, please refer to the center cave."

The slaves had grown tired of their emphasis on the word 'worker'. Like they had a choice in the position they were in. The slaves looked through the bars to see what the jailers were referring to.

At the bottom center of the cave was the head jailer with three beaten slaves on their knees. One of them was a woman, black hair that went past her shoulders. The other was a man, with short brown hair that didn't even pass his forehead. And lastly was a little boy about their age. He had a shaven head a black hair and jutted yellow eyebrows. But his most distinguishing feature was his long, hooked nose that went well past his face.

"I'm not going to like this," Chouji stopped eating his chips as he glared at the scene.

The jailer walked back and forth of them, like a parent in front of his undisciplined children. He held the speaker lacrima in his hand and a spear in his other. He was shaking his head in disappointment as he thought of what to say to the masses. He stopped his trench walk and brought the speaker to his mouth.

"I just don't know what to say to all of you. I mean, I thought I have been lenient and kind all this time. I've given you food, clothes, and a place to live. And over everything else, I have given a purpose for your useless lives." He said as his face grew angry and distorted, veins appearing on his face.

"Useless lives? You're the one who took away their freedom, you piece of shit!" Konohamaru yelled before getting whacked in the head by Kurenai.

"Mirai is here, Maru, so zip your foul mouth," the Genjutsu Mistress scolded him.

He walked behind the slaves and continued his tirade. "And we have you all trying to leave this place when you need to work. I mean when I give people all of this and they take it for granted, I just get so.." He violently stabbed the man in the side of the head with the sharp end of the spear. Some of the slaves in the tower gasped loudly at the act, Milliana burying her face in the side of Simon's chest. He removed the spear and stepped on the body.

"If Kushina sees this, she would go on a killing spree…" Minato felt bad for the executed man.

"It will certainly haunt the youngsters for a while," Shikaku added.

"And if I can't get results for my kindness, Zeref knows what I'll do." He tossed the spear up and grabbed its end, spun around and aimed at the woman's face. A massive fireball exploded on her head, smoke rising from that spot on her shoulders. Her dead body fell backward as the smoke covered up what happened to the head. The boy flinched and shook as the angry cult master walked forward to him.

"He's even worse than Orochimaru and that says a lot," Jiraiya scowled angrily at the scene.

The jailer probed his spear on his back and bent down. He looked the child in the eye as the boy nearly wet himself in fear. The jailer slowly grew a vile grin at the result his actions had. "You can't run from here. You will never escape our clutches. You just aren't fast enough to get away." He leaned in even closer into the boys shaking face, "And you never will." He stood back up as two jailers grabbed the boy by his arms and took him back to his cell.

"I really don't want to have to deal with any more of these running away problems we have. Because when we do, I'll have to make an example for you." The master looked around at the fearful faces of every slave he could see. "Goodnight."

Some people were relieved that they were all spared although all of them, except for Irene and the shinobi portion, still felt sick seeing the execution.

The jailer walked away from the center as more men came and grabbed the two dead bodies. Rob looked down at the effect that sight had on the children. Milliana and Shō were sobbing into Simon's and Erza's side. Wally and Simon barely held back tears at the actions that just took place. Erza was quietly crying, wiping her eyes of any tears that came up. Jellal was shaking as he held onto the bars for support.

Rob finally looked at Naruto, who was staring viciously at the retreating form of the head jailer. He had experienced the need to escape so many times in his past. But unlike when he was a child, these men didn't see him as a one-and-only weapon. He turned around and looked up at Rob. Rob stared back at Naruto before opening his eyes, "I don't want to see you get killed. Anything but that."

Naruto averted his eyes and looked down at his feet. He tryed to keep his anger under control. Finally understanding why Rob-jichan was always stopping them.

"Good thing Rob-san was able to control them before they do something too foolish," Hiruzen was really glad that the old man was there.

########Hunter########

All of them were shaking at the memory of that day. Since then, all of the slaves in the tower had resigned to their fate. Even the over excited children had been crestfallen for some time after that.

But here it was a possible chance to run. A chance to finally get out of the tower. To be free for the first time in years.

"But we won't be running like they did. We can sneak through there and jump on one of the ships when they go out to grab more people." Shō said as he tried to strength his reasoning while they resumed working.

"Shō, are you sure about this?" Simon asked as he moved the cart past them. Shō nodded his head.

"But if we fail, we'll probably be killed." Wally said as he lifted a stone over the pile. The rest of the group heard his reasoning and considered the circumstances.

"It's true that they had guards posted," Sasuke stated. "If only the alternate Naruto there knows the Kage Bunshin Jutsu, it probably would have made things easier as they can serve as a distraction."

"But if we don't take this chance, we'll be here forever. We have to try." Jellal said as he cracked the rocks with a pick-axe.

"I don't know. Naruto, what do you think?" Erza turned her head to her blonde friend and saw that his eyes were covered by his hair. "Naruto?"

"Please, we have to do this now, while we still have the chance." Shō said as he stood on top of a pile of rocks. "If we wait any longer, then we wi-oh no!" Shō tried to grab the rock he dropped as it rolled down the makeshift hill. The others were silent as the rock fell to the floor, causing dust to come up onto a jailers rob.

"Shit…" Kiba muttered.

"I don't like where this is going," Ino was worried.

The jailer looked down at his now dust robe. He followed the still fresh dirt trail to the top, with a little boy there with his arms out. The boy was shaking and had tears well up in his eyes. The jailer knew that the boy only dropped the rock, but whatever he could do to assert his position helped.

"What do we have here?" He said as he kicked the hills base, causing the boy to fall down and roll to the man's feet. The boy looked up as he held his scratched knee in pain. "Were you try to attack just know?"

"N-n-no s-si-sir, I-I wa-wasn't tr-trying t-t-to." Shō shook in terror at the evil smile the man was leering.

"But it is so-o-o-o obvious that you were trying to kill me by throwing that rock." He yelled out as he played his fake wounds, earning whimpers from the surrounding slaves and laughs from the other guards. "And because of that, I'm going to have to punish you." He lifted his spear at the boy's face.

Shō trembled in terror as everyone and everything froze around him.

"Sorry ki-GAK!" The jailer shrieked in pain as a large rock collided with the top of his head, leaving a large gash and dent on his head. Shō, the jailers and the other slaves all froze at the unexpected attack.

Everyone sighed a relief as they didn't have to watch Shō die.

The jailer fixed his position as he held his bleeding temple and swollen eye. "Wh-WHO THE FUCK THREW THAT?" The man screamed out.

"It's Naruto," Neji stated.

"Yep, it's probably him," Tenten nodded.

The surrounding audience looked over the the whiskered blond boy who leisurely tossed a rock in his hand. He looked over at the injured guard and had a small laugh. "Oh I'm sorry. You were so busy with the boy that tried to kill you that I accidentally let a rock slip out of my hands. My bad." He said as he finished with a sly grin.

"Naruto…" Sasuke shook his head. "I understand how your alternate self feels but he should have first thought of the consequences of what he did."

"You-you little SHIT!" The jailer grabbed his staff and shot out a bolt of lightning that shocked the blonde boy badly. He kept that stream of electricity for several minutes that caused the boy to scream in pain. Erza and the others were watching in horror at the torture in front of them. When Erza tried to help him, he opened his eyes at her that told her to stay there.

Erza can only clench her hands at the scene.

Even if it means I die, I'll gladly took a kunai to the head for you. Naruto thought as he winced at the sight of himself getting tortured.

After a few more minutes, the attacking stopped and the jailer retreated, holding his gash. He was swearing as much as he could and cursing the kid to hell. As the jailers left they ordered the slaves to their cells. Simon and Jellal bent down and pulled one of Naruto's arms around their shoulders and lifted him up. The whole group followed them back to the cell.

They arrived back and lowered Naruto to the floor where he tried to stand back up. A few minutes later Rob walked back in and tried to help the numbness through Naruto's body. As the others watched in worry, Shō walked up to his big bro and stood there.

Shō bowed down as far as he could, "I'm sorry Nii-San. This is my fault." He raised his head again and showed his eyes full of tears, Naruto not even looking up at him. "If I didn't lose focus, you wouldn't have been hurt. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" His tears were falling down on his damaged feet uninterrupted.

The shinobis all understood what the blonde boy felt.

The others watched in understanding at what had happened. The thought of escape now showed no hope if their best hope was hurt. Shō had continued to cry for some time until he felt a heavy hand on his head. He looked up through his tears at the sight of his older brother's hand on head.

"Shut up Shō. I'm sick of this." He said with no compassion in his voice from his actions. Shō felt his tears well up even more at the implied words from Naruto. Naruto lifted his head and showed eyes of determination. "I'm sick of them making you cry." Shō stopped his tears and looked up at him as he stood up, wobbling a bit from the pain.

"As harsh as it sounds, he is right," Tobirama pointed out as all the shinobis solemnly agreed with the Nidaime Hokage.

"Every day these guys hurt us, and we just take it. Ignore it like we aren't even humans. And all we do is cry, hoping that our tears can wash the pain away." As Naruto said this he clenched his teeth and fists in anger, shaking slightly. And then he remembered what he had experienced when he passed out moments ago.

"We will go through a lot of pain and trials in our life. Hell, we've been through a lot already. And you'll want to cry when you do, but don't. That will just show them that they are winning, that they have broken us. Take that pain and carry it with you, through the trouble you go through. We will find a way out of this place, and when we do..."

"To endure and move forward," Hashirama smiled. "It's the way of the Konoha shinobi."

"Tough as the ancient forest of Konohagakure," Tobirama described it.

Naruto faintly smiled as he finally remembered those long forgotten words.

"Kurama…" Naruto smiled faintly.

"When we are free, when we can break from this place and see the world with our own eyes, then cry." He looked down at the little kid who was looking up at him with dry eyes. "So keep those tears until we see the free world. Because believe me, it will feel so good that you can't help but cry. 'Kay?" He ended with a happy grin.

"Always the charismatic brat," Tsunade smirked at the boy.

Erza can't help but feel herself getting all warm and fuzzy again upon hrearing Naruto's words.

Everyone was suddenly drawn towards a sniff when they heard it and sweat dropped seeing Gai crying manly tears once again and shouting how youthful the scene was.

The others were looking at the two with great surprise. Shō felt his eyes swell slightly but harden himself and wiped his eyes. He looked up at Naruto and copied his grin. "'Kay."

Naruto smiled down and then heard people walk to him. He turned around to see all of them copying his smile. Erza walked up and held onto him, "Don't push yourself okay. We won't cry again if you don't take this all on yourself, okay?" He nodded as almost instantly his legs turned to jelly and caused Erza to stumble as she was forced to carry his weight.

Erza propped Naruto on the wall to take a breath and sat next to him. She looked at him to see that he was watching the others cheer up right there. "I didn't know you could be smart like that."

"Smart? Not in a hundred years," Sasuke teasingly smirked.

Naruto twitched at that and said, "I can be smart when I need and want to."

"I can't. It was Kurama who said that. He was very smart when he wasn't swearing me out." He said with a grin.

Jellal joined the two while the rest started playing again. They all sat there in silence watching them. Naruto felt a growing feeling in his chest and voiced his concern. "I think we should escape."

The both of them looked briefly surprised before they settled back down and just watched. "Are you sure?"

"We can't stay here. We have to leave. We can't tell Rob-jichan but when we are out we'll send help here. We can stop all of this if we take the chance." Naruto breathed in and looked over at Jellal who didn't look back. "You know when the ships come, right?"

Jellal nodded his head, "Yeah, I have I committed. If we go along with this, it will have to be in the next week. After that, it will happen again in two months."

Erza looked over at them. "Can we do this?" She asked with a strong hint of worry in her voice.

"I know we can do this. And I trust that we can cover each other's backs right." Naruto lifted his head and smiled, "We're the best, right?"

They all smiled at his reference to their challenge years ago. They had decided that it was soon time for them to go. That they were not going to stay here any longer.

By next week, they would be free.

########Hunter########

Ayame closed the book with a sigh, "And that's Chapter 4 all done and done."

"One last thing…" Kiba suddenly said. "Where is the fairy? I'm pretty sure she will now or sooner."

"Oh, you're right."

The Inuzuka nin nearly had a heart attack as he realized the mysterious fairy was beside him and nearly shattered Shino's glasses when he hugged the Aburame. "Kiba, let go of me. You're hugs are too suffocating."

Ignoring the Inuzuka, the mysterious fairy then flew to the podium as she announced, "Now that Chapter 4's been wrapped up, there is one more chapter before I formally introduce myself and we all rest for dinner. But now, I'll be bringing in the next batch of guests and this time, it will be in bulk."

"Bulk?" For some reason, Tobirama didn't like this at all. "What do you exactly mean?"

"That means there will be more than one person to be brought here every after chapter," the fairy explained. "And before you all complain, here are the next batch of guests…"

After the fairy said that, a sudden explosion of light suddenly appeared, temporarily blinding them, and as it dies down, a large group of people appeared.

Those who are familiar with these group of people were gaping in shock.

"Uwaah! Where is Natshuu?! Where am I!"

"Shut up, Tomcat! You're too loud!"

"What the hell? Where am I? Oi, Itachi, did you do this?"

"Shisui, I have nothing to do with this at all. By the way, Obito-kun, please remove that flying blue cat out of your face. It's too cute to be smothered by you…"

"Sigh, I was having a good time with Fugaku in Nirvana when this suddenly happened…"

"Where am I…Ashina-sama?! I didn't expect to see you here..."

"Ugh...Mito-chan, where are we? Last time I remember, I was busy fighting those Iwa assholes…"

"Ashina-sama, I think we are back to the physical world…"

But most of all…

"Where the hell am I, dettabane?! Who did this?!"

That voice quickly made Naruto look at the podium and when he saw the source of the voice, he nearly cried. "M-Mom?"

Erza, hearing her seatmate's reaction, also looked at the podium and said, "La-Lady Uzumaki?"

Kushina, who just recovered from getting transported here as quickly as possible, dusted herself off and looked at her son with a surprise, "Naru-chan and…son, who is that redhead beside you?"